Pope Aries was becoming a bit anxious about the plan that he and Naraku had cooked up, as he hadn't heard any word from their newest player. His only source of pleasure came from hearing word of how much screaming Yujiro did during his tortures. Hopefully he would arrive at sanctuary with their prisoner, or at least would report to them soon.
In a cabin in a very secluded area, two people re-entered a bedroom, one of them fully dressed and the other in nothing but a towel.
"Get into the bed and take off the towel," Peggi ordered Shun.
Shun raised his eyebrows at Peggi, "Well, well, aren't we feisty?" he giggled.
Peggi rolled her eyes, "Oh, yes. Definitely." She patted the bed, "I can't heal you if you're going to be stubborn, you know. Of course, you are starting to make me think you just didn't feel like walking through those woods. You seem just fine now."
Shun laughed, "Don't think I healed that quickly. You can go collect your herbs and energy now. I'll be good."
Shun slid into the bed, pulling the covers up to his chin, and Peggi left the room to go outside. She needed to draw energy from plants in order to heal someone, and herbs would need to be collected. She would mix the herbs and create a liquid which she would drink and then have extra energy to perform what needed to be done. It wouldn't take long to collect what she needed, but she could only use specific herbs, so she wanted to hurry.
As the bronze saints stopped a few yards from the door, Shiryu carelessly ran into the room.
"Stop! Shiryu, it could be a trap!" Seiya screamed behind him.
"I don't care!" Shiryu replied, not stopping, "Tenshi! Tenshi, its Shiryu, are you there? Tenshi!"
Shiryu ran through the doorway and tried clicking on the lights. When he flipped the switch the lights did, indeed, turn on.
"Shiryu?" a voice called out, weakly.
"Tenshi?" Shiryu sighed in relief.
Tenshi pulled herself out from under the bed, a terrified look on her face. Shiryu helped pull her to her feet, a concerned look on his face.
"Tenshi?" he didn't really know what to say or what to ask.
"I didn't know who it was, but someone broke in. I was asleep and I heard a noise. It woke me up," Tenshi was cut off when the rest of the bronze saints came running into the room.
"Shiryu, are you alright?" Ikki asked.
"Tenshi was just about to explain what happened. Someone broke into the apartment. What happened after you woke up?" he asked her.
"Well, I didn't hear anything for a few seconds, but then I heard someone trying to open the door. At first I thought it was you guys, but then I realized that someone must've been picking the lock because it took a long time to open it. Well, when I realized that it couldn't be you guys, all I could think of was to hide," Tenshi looked down at her feet, almost ashamed.
"There's nothing wrong with hiding," Hyoga comforted her.
"I know I could have defended myself. We did a lot of practicing and I was rested, so I could have protected myself and prevented him from trashing the apartment," she sat down on the bed.
"Him? Did you see who broke into my apartment?" Shiryu asked her.
"No, I couldn't quite make out his face, but I did see his shoes and the bottom of his clothes. He also spoke while he was in here. He said 'they are not here, perhaps one of them is at one of the other locations' and then he left."
"When he spoke, did he sound anything like Muso?" Seiya asked her.
"No. It wasn't him. This guy's voice was a lot deeper and also I noticed he walked with a bit of a limp. One of his shoes was covered in blood so perhaps he is hurt," Tenshi suggested.
"Well, where do you think he went to after he left here?" Hyoga asked the rest of the bronze saints.
"I bet he's checking out all of our houses," Ikki suggested.
"If he is, then Muso might be in some trouble," Shiryu pointed out, "I think we should at least go get him from Ikki's and then we should make sure that no one has broken into you guys' places."
They all agreed and then set out, all of them still hungry, to find out if Muso was all right and to see if any other places were damaged.
By the time they arrived at Ikki's, Tenshi was out of breath. It wasn't because she was tired from walking, but she felt more like she had exhausted her powers again, when she hadn't done a thing since that morning. When they arrived at Ikki's, the door was open, and Muso was nowhere to be seen.
"Who could have done this?" Tenshi asked to no one in particular.
"Could it have been Yujiro? We still haven't figured anything out about him," Hyoga pointed out.
"That is very possible. Once we know if this person has broken into any of the other places, we may know more. We'll check out the other houses and then we'll go to that little restaurant on the boardwalk that has all of those computers. What is that place called again?" Seiya asked.
"I believe it's called 'Castle Inn' because it has some hotels on the top floors," Shiryu answered.
"Right, we will go there. We can do some research on Yujiro while we're eating," Hyoga said.
The saints led the way to each of the apartments that hadn't been checked. Shiryu's place had already been trashed, Ikki's place wasn't destroyed but it was apparent that someone had broken in because the lock was broken. The closest place to check next was Shun and Peggi's town house, which seemed to be untouched from the outside, but Shiryu pulled out a spare key to check the inside.
The inside of the town house looked fine, but it took some force to keep Ikki from removing Shun's computer.
Hyoga shared Ikki's apartment but sometimes stayed at the town house with Peggi and Shun, so that left Seiya's place. They ran to Seiya's apartment and nothing looked damaged, but just as they had done before, they took a quick glance inside. Apparently they had found what they wanted at Ikki's, because Seiya's apartment looked normal. It was very messy and looked as though a tornado had hit it, but that was a completely normal occurrence for the bronze saint's apartment.
"Well, I suppose we can go eat now," Shiryu informed the rest of the saints and Tenshi.
The bronze saints headed towards the boardwalk and to the restaurant. Meanwhile, Naraku and Ares were pleased with their work.
"I am pleased with your work, Satsuki. You have proven your worth to the Sanctuary," Pope Ares smirked.
"I only wish to serve Sanctuary and Athena; and of course you as well, Pope Ares," Satsuki said, placing one knee to the ground, kneeling before the leader of Sanctuary.
The female saint had light purple hair that barely reached her shoulders and wore a dark purple cloth. The mask that covered her face was unlike any of the others worn by women at the sanctuary. She was not a normal saint to say the least and thus, her mask could not be normal either.
The mask she wore was made of pure gold and had silver rimming the outside. There were also ruby-like jewels where her eyes were. Her mask was not simply meant to hide her face as the masks of the other female saints. Satsuki was uncontrollably powerful, even too uncontrollable for herself. Her mask was meant to hide her face, but more importantly, to contain her powers. The ruby-like jewels absorbed most of the energy that was constantly being released from her body. Without being contained, her power could be a potential threat to anyone in her path, whether she intended to harm him or her or not.
While she was not wearing her mask, a headband made of silver and lined with the jewels would be worn. During times when she was in battle with an opponent, she would intentionally remove her mask because although no man was to ever see a female saint's face, they would not live past their fight, and so she would not have to love, nor would she have to worry about them leaving after seeing her.
In the back of the Pope's chambers where Naraku, Ares himself, and Satsuki were stationed, Muso lay in the back of the room, unconscious and bound in thick ropes.
In the woods, Peggi was busy doing what seemed to be meditating. She had collected a few plants in a bowl already, but she still needed to collect as much energy from nature as she possibly could. For some reason, her powers weren't quite up to speed. She felt as though she had already drained her powers, and yet she had not used them at all.
She was able to control some of the elements such as fire, lightning, and nature. Many of her powers came to her easily; however, some of her powers were not so easily used or obtained. Her ability to heal was something she had learned from a cousin, and her mother had taught her that she could combine powers with other magically inclined people. Her fighting techniques she had learned from Shun and Shiryu.
She let her mind drift back to memories that made her very happy. These memories would help her with her meditation and assist her with collecting energy from nature.
She thought of the time she first found out about Shun being a bronze saint and how funny they all found it that she was so amazed with their powers. She then thought of how funny it was when Shun explained her powers to the rest of the saints and how they were twice as amazed with her as she had been with them. She thought of the times she and her cousin spent practicing and increasing their powers and how she could always make her smile.
She was finally ready to go back inside, so she finished mashing together the ingredients in the bowl and drank it down. It had a bitter taste that made her feel sick to her stomach, but to heal someone she cared for, it was worth it.
She was about to walk back inside the cabin when she felt a sudden strange feeling come over her. She felt as though she were being watched, but she let the feeling pass, as it were impossible for anyone to find them there. They were in such a secluded area and no one could possibly know where they were.
As the bronze saints and Tenshi sat down in their seats at the restaurant, Tenshi spoke.
"I don't remember anything about my past. I don't know where I'm from," she mostly spoke to Shiryu, "but the dreams I've been having have been making me think about where I came from. I don't know why, but I get this very strange feeling that I just can't explain. I know it sounds silly, but for some reason I get the impression that I'm from," Tenshi looked down at her lap, not wanting to finish the sentence and wishing she hadn't started it in the first place.
"What is it, Tenshi? We have lived pretty strange lives so no matter what you are about to say, it won't surprise us or make us feel any differently for you," Shiryu encouraged her to finish speaking.
"Well, I think I may be from the past," Tenshi blurted out as quickly as she possibly could.
"The past? What do you mean?" Seiya asked her.
The boys were suddenly interested in what Tenshi had to say. Their interest made Tenshi feel a bit uncomfortable, but there was no turning back now. She needed to explain herself to them.
"In a few of the dreams I've had, I noticed that there were huts and really old looking kimonos. There were also demons like the ones in stories of feudal Japan. I don't remember what was going on or who I was talking to but I also remember talking to someone about ancient Japan as well. It all makes sense in a way, me being from the past, I mean. Maybe that's why I don't remember anything."
"Feudal Japan?" Shiryu didn't realize he was grabbing Tenshi's shoulders because of his sudden increase in interest.
"Maybe I'm not from the past I just remember hearing about it in my dreams," Tenshi felt very uncomfortable at that point.
Shiryu let go of her shoulders, "I'm sorry if I startled you. I just find it interesting that you would say feudal Japan is where you could have come from. You see, I have a friend who can time travel in a way. She has been to feudal Japan before, very recently actually. It just makes me wonder if somehow you ended up being thrown into our time while she was time traveling. She is away on a much needed restful vacation, but perhaps we should try and get a hold of her and see if that is possible."
"Sounds good to me!" Tenshi felt almost relieved that they didn't think she was crazy.
They all ordered their food and requested a laptop to use for their research. All of them but Ikki requested ramen, and Ikki ordered meso soup and a few more appetizers. Once the laptop arrived they began looking for search engines to give them information on Yujiro. So far, no results had come up, when they had an idea.
Hyoga, the one on the laptop, typed in a search for members of Sanctuary. A list of members appeared. They looked for the name but they couldn't find anyone with such a name.
"Perhaps it's a last name," Ikki suggested.
Hyoga looked for anyone with the last name of Yujiro, and still, no results, "Any other ideas?"
"Hey, look at that link," Tenshi pointed out.
She was pointing out a list of members of Sanctuary who were under a type of obituaries. Hyoga shrugged his shoulders and tried the list that Tenshi had pointed out. Under the list, only two names down appeared 'Yujiro'.
"It looks as though he didn't make Ares too happy," Hyoga pointed out to the group.
"Why do you say that?" Seiya asked him.
"Because the Pope was the one who had him sentenced to death. He was working for him, though. There is something more interesting than that, though. About a week ago, Muso was sentenced to death for treason."
END CHAPTER TWELVEPeggi- Wow, I'm really on a role! Dun Dun DUNNN another part of the plot finally begins to unfold! Well, this is a romance fic as well as action/adventure. The action and adventure have already been shown, but the romance is just about to unfold! Review please! Oh, also, Eevee pointed out to me that while updating at 3 in the morning, I made an error in the eleventh chapter. I referred to the bronze saints as 'silver' saints. I will go back and fix that soon, but for now, sorry! It was only once though, so it wasn't a huge error lol. That's what I get for writing so late though lol. Ok, that is all!